


The Destination

by BingoBongo269



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, It's basically a book about a magical roadtrip, This is something I've been wanting to write for a while
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2020-09-07 03:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20303035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BingoBongo269/pseuds/BingoBongo269
Summary: “Well if you knew anything about villagers, you’d know that they are incredibly weak, especially to supernatural abilities, and especially to the Entity’s supernatural abilities.” the calm voice seemed to be more concerned now, over what, Sal couldn’t exactly figure out in his sleepy haze.“Maybe he’s dead.” A fourth voice, by far the quietest, whispered the suggestion.“I’m not dead.” He mumbled.





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if the first chapter is filled with exposition, I needed to explain how their world worked. Anyway this is an original story I'm really passionate about and I'm really excited to share it! :)

“Why has he not awoken as of yet?” The unfamiliar voice that spoke was rigid and unwavering.  
“Judging by his outfit I’d say he’s from the Village.” The second voice was calming and pleasing to the ear.  
“And what’s that got to do with anything?” A third voice appeared among the others, a voice that reeked of annoyance and ignorance.  
In his slumber, Sal vaguely realized he was the subject of the voices’ discussion. However, he was too tired and too sleepy to be worried about the mysterious voices. He didn’t even think to question the who, what, when, where, why, and how’s of his situation.  
“Well if you knew anything about villagers, you’d know that they are incredibly weak, especially to supernatural abilities, and especially to the Entity’s supernatural abilities.” the calm voice seemed to be more concerned now, over what, Sal couldn’t exactly figure out in his sleepy haze.  
“Maybe he’s dead.” A fourth voice, by far the quietest, whispered the suggestion.  
“I’m not dead.” He mumbled.  
The voices stopped suddenly, then started up again much quieter and seemingly farther away from what Sal could tell with his eyes still closed. That soon changed however, as he groggily opened his eyes and saw the bodies of the voices. Sal let out a rather high shriek and sat up with lightning quick speed.  
The people before him were by far the four strangest looking beings he had ever seen in his short life span. On the far left there was a person of indeterminate gender wearing a black cloak, the hood of which covered every part of their face with its shadows. Next to them was the shortest of all the figures, a boy with a baby face and giant ram’s horns sprouting out of the sides of his head. The fact that he looked like a marshmallow squished between two cinnamon rolls wasn’t the strangest thing about the boy, no, it was the look in his eyes, like he had seen things that had aged his soul far older than his appearance. He soon lost the look when he caught Sal’s stare, switching it for a far more naive and impatient face.  
“Hey, you were asleep for a while, do you feel okay?” The calming voice from before took the form of a girl with kind eyes and flowers in her dark red hair. She stepped over to Sal’s bedside to put a hand on his forehead while the others stayed on the opposite side of the room Sal now realized he was in.  
“Who are you people? Where am I? What’s going on? How did I get here? Did you kidnap me?” Sal’s chest began to heave at rapidly increasing rates as his eyes widened. “Are you going to kill me?”  
“Millicent inquired a moment ago if you were well. Are you under the impression that those wishing to do you harm would inquire about your wellbeing?” The stiff and excessively formal voice came out of a girl with silver skin and short blond hair standing ram-rod straight with her hands utterly still by her side.  
“No?” Sal’s breathing relaxed at the idea that he might be safe for the moment.  
“Excuse robot-lady, she’s not equipped with the latest social interaction software.” The ramhorn guy sounded as if he could barely contain his laughter.  
“Asher is incorrect, I am not a robot, thus I do not have the need for software to interact socially.”  
“That’s exactly what a robot would say.”  
“I assure you, Asher, I am not, nor have I ever been, a robot.” This prompted Asher to respond similarly to before and they soon began arguing whether or not the robotic lady was a robot.  
“I’ve only known Asher and Sophia for a day and I can already tell that they’re a handful.” Sal only gaped at Millicent, who seemed to remember something.”Oh! You must be so confused! I totally forgot to explain.”  
Sal only nodded mutely, continuing to gape at them all.  
“Hey fish, what’s your name?” Asher was giggling at the nickname he’d called Sal, only pausing to explain. “When you gape like that you look like a fish.”  
“My name’s Sal.”  
“Okay, Sal-mon, you must want to know what’s going on. Well, we’re four serial killers who kidnapped you and-” Millicent walked over to put her hand over Asher’s mouth.  
“We’re not serial killers! Although, technically you were kidnapped, but not by us! We were all teleported here by a malicious, all-powerful, and mysterious creature known only as The Entity becau-” Millicent was abruptly cut off by the cloaked figure.  
“The Entity is not malicious, she has virtuous and unselfish reasons for choosing us for the journey.” The cloak’s voice was significantly louder than the first time he had heard it.  
“Right, I forgot you’re from the Fog Zone.”  
“I’m completely lost.” Millicent glanced at Sal with pity.  
“The Fog Zone is a town always covered in fog that worships The Entity like some sort of god.”  
“Who?”  
“An ancient being with near-infinite power who annually teleports three to ten people out of their original villages and various towns to travel on a road trip from the start point to the destination.” She recited this as if it were a simple fact of life, like saying the sky is blue or that two plus two equals four.  
“Are we at the start point?” Taking in his surroundings properly for the first, Sal realized he was in a small bedroom, containing only the bed he was sitting on, a small dresser, and a lamp next to his bed.  
“No, we left the starting point almost a day ago, while you were asleep.”  
“Then where are we now?”  
“Wow, even for a villager, you’re a pretty ignorant fish.” Sal could already tell that his and Asher’s personality’s were going to clash.  
“What’s a villager?”  
“It’s what you are. Fish.”  
“I apologize for Asher’s comment about your lack of knowledge. To clear up any further absences of information, I shall explain. This world is divided into sections, how many sections is not known due to the nature of our world. Each section houses a village or a town. We made the presumption that you originated from the village, named so because of the fact that there is nothing remarkable enough to name it after besides that it’s a village. We made this assumption based on your attire, appearance, and the fact that you seem to have no knowledge of the Journey, as is the case with all Villagers.” When Sophia finished speaking, she went completely still, looking not at all awkward, or showing any emotion at all. Sal was starting to consider Asher’s robot theory more by the minute.  
Sal was going to follow up with more questions, when his arm started to intensely itch. He had been so distracted by the current situation, his arm had completely slipped his mind. The itch reminded him of the bandages wrapped around his injury. He was reminded of recent events, of the pain and betrayal that came with remembering. Sal decided then and there that these people he barely knew were far better than where he was just a day ago.  
“Hey Sal, are you okay?” Millicent looked incredibly concerned causing Sal to notice the tears streaking down his face.  
“I just… need some air.” He weakly got to his feet and went through the only door and into a hallway.  
He was shaking, from the pain of the past or from not eating for a day, he didn’t know or care. Regardless, Sal walked to the end of the hallway, past several doors and even a staircase. Opening the door at the end of the hall, Sal entered what appeared to be an RV.  
At this point he was beyond confused, but at the moment all he cared about was getting outside. He glanced around and saw the exit near the wheel and stepped outside. Outdoors was a desert, nothing around as far as the eye could see except for sand, the weird RV, and a worn road. Taking a closer look, Sal noticed the RV was the crappiest vehicle he’d ever seen. Most of the paint was chipped off, rust was creeping up the sides, and there were so many scratches along the side that it looked like a racing stripe.  
“You were asking earlier how we got here, this is how!” Millicent was standing in the doorway, an excited look on her face. “The Entity gives every team a magical vehicle at the Start Point, that’s why it’s bigger on the inside if you were wondering.”  
“Oh.”  
“I never thought I’d get chosen, I mean, I hoped I would, but I never…” Millicent trailed off, the happiest he’d seen her so far.  
“You’re glad this happened?” Sal didn’t think being taken from everything you’d ever known was something someone like Millicent would be happy about.  
“Of course! It’s a huge honor.”  
Sal half-heartedly hummed in response.  
“And if we’re really lucky, we’ll be the first ones to make it to the Destination alive!”  
“What?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't write anything for this for a couple months, then I wrote several chapters over the last week, so those will be up soon! :)

Overall, Sophia would say her day had been very different from her average day. On an average day, she would wake up at 0900, take the same vitamins and emotion suppressants as every other being in her town, get dressed,consume a nutritionally optimal breakfast, and begin her studies at precisely 0930 hours. She would learn until 1300 hours when she would pause her studies to consume a nutritionally optimal lunch, and resume her lessons at 1330 hours until 2130 hours, at which point she would consume a nutritionally optimal dinner, prepared for bed, and she would fall asleep at precisely 2200 hours. Upon the completion of her studies, she would be assigned a job to replace them in her schedule. She, and everyone in her town had been following this schedule since the age of four until their death, unless there was an extreme reason to deviate from the schedule, such as a medical emergency. The reason that Sophia's day was very different from her average day is because for the first time since the age of four, she deviated from this schedule. 

To begin, Sophia does not remember waking up outside the recreational vehicle. The first memory she has of the Journey is the cloaked figure's hand on her forehead, and though she was staring where the cloaked figure's face should have been, she could only see fog and shadows. 

_"I'm sorry, but I was forced to hide your memories of the last year in your subconscious, away from where your conscious mind could get to them." The cloaked figure's voice gave off an emotion that seemed too complex to call simply sad, but that was as close as Sophia could get to quantifying it._

_The cloaked figure removed their gloved hand, and stepped back to allow a figure with flowers in her hair to move into Sophia's field of vision. "Hi! My name is Millicent, and we're all on the Journey!"_

_"My name is Sophia, I am from the town, 1010100 1001111 1010111 1001101, and I will join you on the Journey to the Destination." Early in her studies, she and her classmates had learned about the Journey and had been taught how to introduce themselves to the beings that they may accompany on the Journey._

_"You know that means Towm, right? At the end it's 10, not 01." The boy who said this appeared to be around her age of fifteen, (although, now that she considers it, she is sixteen by now if she is in fact missing a year of her memories) with the horns of a ram curled around the sides of his head._

_"You are incorrect, the binary sequence to spell the name of my town, which is in fact Town, ends in 01, the sequence does not end with 10."_

_The boy opened his mouth to respond, but Millicent spoke before he had the chance to speak. "I'm sorry to interrupt you and Asher's conversation, but I need help moving a body."_

That body had turned out to be the fifth and final member of their group, Sal, who at the time, had been unconscious. Millicent and Sophia had carried Sal inside the recreational vehicle, and dropped him on to the couch inside. That had been yesterday, before today when Sal woke up, asked a few questions, then ran out, quickly followed by Millicent. 

"Do you think Fish was offended when I called him Sal-mon? Like, did he eat a salmon that gave him food poisoning, and know he hates them, and the mere mention of them brings him to tears?" Asher seemed overly confused when he asked this.

"I doubt that's the reason he ran out." The cloaked figure's words were soon followed by their exit.

"So, I feel kinda weird standing around in this guy's room without him, so wanna go upstairs and play a game of cards?"

"We are in the possession of a deck of cards?" 

"Yeah, there was a broom closet with a bunch of board games and stuff to waste time. I guess The Entity figured a bunch of teenagers would get bored on a road trip spanning years. Who knew?" Sophia had been unaware of this information because boredom was just a part of her schedule, she had expected no different on the Journey.

Upstairs there were two chairs, a couch, a beanbag chair, and a lone window. Asher, however, ignored all of these seating options in favor of sitting on the floor. Sophia sat across from Asher primly.

"So, the only fun game for two players I know is called Blackjack, and it's pretty easy. After I shuffle the deck, I deal both of us two cards, and each card is worth points, the numbered ones are obvious, but the faces are eleven, and Aces are worth one point. To get another card you just say "hit me". The two ways to win Blackjack are to either beat the dealer's hand, or reach twenty one point, but if you go over twenty one points you automatically lose." Asher swiftly shuffled and dealt them both two cards.

Sophia's cards were an eight of hearts and a six of clubs. "Hit me." There was a high probability she would win this game, if she just had time, a pencil, and paper, finding the probability would be easy.

"And, you lost." 

Sophia looked down at her cards, he had dealt her another eight, the eight of hearts. Together the numbers made twenty two.

"If it makes you feel any better, I had a three and a four, so if you hadn't drawn another card, you've won. Hey, twenty two divided by seven is Three point one four one five, that's like Pi, right?"

Sophia could not breath, her pulse was rapidly quickening, and her mind could only focus on the cause of her problems. She did not know why it bothered her so much. There was something about the number sequence that made her scratch at her wrists and water leak from her eyes. Something about three point one four one five made her pull at her hair, claw at it and let out a scream of pure, unfiltered, maddened terror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3!!! :)

"What?" Sal didn't speak for a few minutes, Millicent waited for him to elaborate on his confusion, but when he didn't, she realized he wanted her to elaborate.

"Well, It's never been confirmed if anyone has ever made it to the destination alive." Millicent logically knew that the Journey was extremely dangerous and they all had a slim chance of survival, but a part of her couldn't truly believe that she would die.

"How could you be okay with th-" Sal's question was cut off by a blood curdling scream.

Sal raced inside the R.V., Millicent following close behind. On their way down the hallway they passed E already on their way towards the source of the scream.

"It sounded like it came from upstairs." E said this, then dashed to the stairs.

The three of them ran up the stairs as quickly as possible, desperate to see who was hurt, what was wrong. Millicent had just started the adventure she'd wanted to take her whole life, and now, as soon as her dream came true, it was already going up in flames. 

They reached the top of the stairs to find Asher tightly gripping an old set of playing cards, a panicked expression on his face, and slowly backing away from Sophia, who was lying unconscious, her whole body trembling.

"I don't know what happened, we were just playing a card game, and I just mentioned numerical PI, and she started screaming and freaking out, and then she just passed out. It wasn't my fault, I didn't do anything wrong!" Asher began pacing back and forth, clutching his cards so tight they started to bend.

"Asher, why don't you go to the front of the R.V. with Sal and go calm down. E and I will look after Sophia."

Sal put his arm over Asher and guided him over to the stairs. "Wait, who's E?"

"Oh, Fish, your ignorance is comforting in times like these." Asher said with a shaky laugh as he and Sal descended from view.

Millicent knelt down next to Sophia and grabbed her wrist. A moment passed. Then, she felt a beat, then another, then another before she pulled away. Millicent knew from her training that Sophia was almost certainly physically fine, and that she was unconscious due something psychological Millicent didn't know how to diagnose. She was a doctor not a therapist! Well, she wasn't technically a doctor, but she had been training as one!

"Should I lock away her memory again?" E was already reaching a gloved hand towards Sophia's forehead.

Millicent grabbed E's wrist. "No, why would we need to?"

"The reason Sophia passed out was because something induced a panic attack, but her brain couldn't remember why that something was terrifying to her or any of the trauma surrounding it. And worse, the panic attack made her brain realize that there was a mental wall around the missing memories, and let's just say, the result of a person unearthing magically repressed memories before that person is ready isn't a pretty site. If I go back in to her head and erase the concept that something is missing from her head, she might return to normal. We'd have to pretend like we've never met her, and that she's a year younger than she really is, but she'd be okay, everything would be alright..." E tried to reach toward Sophia with their other hand, but Millicent again grabbed their wrist.

"Everything won't be alright, she'll forget us, we'll have to reintroduce ourselves! What if she asks why she woke up so late?"

"Then we'll drive back to the Start Point and pretend to wake up all over again."

"We can't ask Sal to lie for us! He met us all less than half an hour ago!"

"You can trust everyone in your group on the Journey!"

"That is up for debate, and he is from the Village, he knows next to nothing about the Journey, we know next to nothing about the Village or him!"

"Would you rather Sophia go back to the way she was when she first woke up? Remember what she was like? How bad it was? When she wakes up she could be fine, or she could go right back to the beginning, I'll have to hide her memories again, and she'll probably have another panic attack, or she could get even worse! You were there, Millicent, as you teammate on this Journey, I'm asking you, do you seriously want to risk her going through that again, or do you want me to do us all a favor and hide her memories?"

_"Hey look, this one's waking up." Asher pointed to the girl with blond hair and silver skin who had begun to squirm and whose eyes had begun to open._

_"Oh! I'm so excited to meet her! Another teammate to accompany us on our Journey!" Millicent clapped her hands together in excitement, practically bouncing over to the stirring girl. "Hi! My name's Millicent. What's your name?"_

_The girl's snapped open, and she sat bolt upright, grabbing Millicent's arm in a death grip. Asher and the cloaked figure tensed around her "Three..."_

_"Ow, that kinda hurts." The girl's grip only tightened, her eyes staring unfocused in the distance. "Okay, um, did you say your name was Three? That's an interesting name, is there a story behind it or?..."_

_"Three point one four. Three point one four one five nine three six f-" The girl paused her rambling, her grip on Millicent's arm tightened tenfold, a look of absolute horror crossing her face. "No, no, no, NO!!! I got it wrong, I got the numbers wrong! Now I have to start over! Three point one four one five nine two six five three five eight ni-"_

_The girl was cut off by the cloaked figure shoving their entire hand on to her forehead. "I'm finding the memories causing all of this and I'm putting them all in a box in her mind and hiding them in a deep dark corner where the rest of her mind can't find them. All in all, it should only take about ten minutes. By the way, my name is E, I'm from the Fog Zone, and I'm excited to be your teammate on the Journey." The girl's hand released Millicent's arm from it's grasp._

Millicent's hands grasped tighter on to E's wrists. 

"Of course I don't want Sophia to go through that again, but the plan you have in mind, there's too many moving parts, it's too risky, so much could go wrong, it should be our absolute last resort. We can't use it until we know for sure there's no other option." Millicent gazed at where she estimated E's eyes to be, silently pleading with them.

"Fine, not until we're sure, then I do what has to be done." E broke their wrists from Millicent's grasp and stalked towards the stairs.

"I'll watch Sophia until she wakes up, then I'll update you on her condition!" Millicent called after E's quickly receding back.

"Whatever."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 is up! :)

E was pissed. Millicent wouldn't listen to reason. Sophia could wake up any minute and when she did, it was going to be sad and painful, for everyone, especially Sophia. E had been inside her head, they only saw glimpses of what was tormenting Sophia and tearing away at her sanity, but it was enough for them to know that they were right, the only solution was to make Sophia forget. Millicent wouldn't listen to reason.

No one ever listened when E had the answer, when Ivan had needed help, E had presented the perfect solution but no one listened, just like Millicent wouldn't listen now. E wanted desperately to take matters into their own capable hands, and save Sophia. But, E would give Millicent her precious time, and they would wait until Sophia woke, and when she started screaming about numbers, Millicent would come running for their help, and E would fix everything. And if Sophia woke up fine and calm, E would do nothing and let Millicent have her win. But no matter what, if Sophia needed them, nothing would stop E from fixing her as soon as possible, this wouldn't turn out like Ivan, they refused to let it.

There had been an easy way to save Ivan, but the leaders said E's perfect solution was "Barbaric", "A crime against nature", and E's personal favorite, "An affront to the Entity and everything they stood for". Those old coots knew nothing and almost cost E their brother over it. E had ignored them and everyone else who had stood in their way, even Ivan himself. E had broken sacred laws, that the Entity might never forgive them for, but they had done it! Ivan had survived and that meant everything was fixed because now, Ivan wouldn't die, he couldn't even if he wanted to. Now he's safe and E will always be there to protect him from the world.

Of course, E and Ivan can never go home now, and they would've spent the rest of their lives in the mountains, but the Entity had saved them, and taken them on the Journey! That meant that E's actions must have the Entity's approval, or maybe forgiveness, or at the very least indifference. Either way, Ivan is safe, E is living their dream and might meet the Entity, and has all new teammates who know nothing of their past. And E knows that they can trust these people because the Entity gave them to E, and E will do anything to protect these gifts from the Entity. So, if Sophia needs E's help, absolutely nothing in this world will stop them, not even other gifts from the Entity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5!!!

He had forgotten about PI. When he had seen the cards, Asher had thought it was funny that the numbers divided made PI, and he has a tendency to think out loud, and he hadn't thought it would bother Sophia because of E's weird mind magic thing. He shouldn't have said it, but if he didn't talk, it would get quiet, and he couldn't stand quiet, or being alone with his thoughts, it reminded him too much of-. Of things he didn't want to think of, things he refused to think of. Things that Sophia's screaming had reminded him of. 

When Sophia had started screaming, Asher had collected all of his cards and then started to back away. He regretted it, but he couldn't get near her, or they might think that it was his fault, then everything would be ruined, his fresh start would be ruined forever. He had to make everything okay, if he seemed fine, everyone would believe he was fine, and free of guilt and that it wasn't his fault.

He and Sal were sitting on the couch in the front of the R.V. There was a table in front of it that Asher was using as a surface to shuffle his cards on. The act of shuffling his cards always calmed him down, the sound the cards made, the way the cards looked as they were mixed together, it was all very calming. He had lied to Sophia earlier, when he had said that he found them with the rest of the games, in reality, the cards had come with him. He had been holding them when he was transported. It's not like he had known the Entity would take him, he had just been sleeping, hugging the deck of cards like a stuffed bear. He was so glad they were with him, they were the only thing he would have wanted to bring with him. A friend had given them to him when he was young, and they had been through a lot with him, the one thing that could always bring him joy.

"So, the last ten minutes have been kinda insane for me, and I have no idea what just happened, and I guess we're all going to be living together for the next few years, unless we all die, so why don't we get to know each other to pass the time?" Sal rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

Asher stayed silent, he didn't want to talk anymore, on the way he had told Sal that E was the person in the cloak, but after that, he had gone silent, because he couldn't take anymore conversation. He just kept shuffling his cards, because it was the only sound he could take at the moment.

"Well I'll just go first, my favorite color is blue, I'm 15, and I've never celebrated my birthday on the day I was born."

This piqued Asher's interest, sure he was mentally exhausted, and every pore in his body screamed at him to make Sal shut up, but he could at least pretend that he was fine to find out about Sal's birthday. "Wait, why haven't you celebrated on your birthday, Fish?"

"I was born on September second."

"That doesn't answer my question, Sal-mon."

"Blackout day?" Sal said this like it should be obvious.

"What?" The feeling of exhaustion from earlier was slowly faded and Asher was starting to feel better and more confused by the minute.

"The day where everyone blackouts out for twenty four hours and when we wake up, sometimes one to three people are missing, do you not have that in your area?"

"No? The only thing that happens on September second in my area is the Entity taking people for the Journey, which we don't really commemorate or anything, people just get kind of antsy waiting to see who gets chosen."

"What do mea-" Sal paused and gaped (like a fish). "Holy crap, this explains so much!" 

Asher started laughing, first it started as a small chuckle, then it began to devolve in to full on, uncontrollable guffawing as Sal continued.

"So that's what happened to Carter and Peggy! Wait, does this mean I'm sixteen?"

"How... could you... not know what... day it was???" Asher could hardly choke out words through his laughter.

"I guess I lost track of the days, I don't know!" Sal crossed his arms and turned away from Asher in a huff.

"Well, that's enough getting to know each other for one day." Asher was still chuckling to himself as he walked over to the driver's seat. "It's time to get moving."

"Are you going to drive? Shouldn't you run that by Millicent first, or E? Aren't you kinda young to be driving, do you know how to drive?" Sal had turned back around when Asher turned the keys in the ignition.

"I'm the only one knows how to drive, unless you know how to drive, Sal-mon?"

"Nope, it's just that I get a little carsick."

"Well, Fish, you're gonna have to get used to it, how do you think we left the Start Point, we can't exactly walk to the Destination, now can we?" Asher changed gears and stepped on the gas with a lot more force than was strictly necessary.

"I would prefer walking."

"You're a real comedian, you know that, Fish?" Asher chuckled.

"Where's the bathroom?"

"It's at the back, just don't look in the mirror." 

Asher glanced back at Sal, who looked like he was about to say something, when he grabbed his mouth with his hand, and ran through the door leading to the hallway.

Asher faced the road again, the desert stretching as far as the eye could see, with only the occasional tree to mix it up. It was still the best view he had seen in ten years, granted even if he had had good scenery, this still would have been his favorite, the nearly cloudless blue sky, the way the open road smelled of freedom, it was a perfect view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote this chapter before chapters 3-5, because I was so excited to write this part!

Ivan was in two. He was in a field watching his body blindly face the moonless sky. The field only stretched a few feet in front of him. He could leave, walk forward into the inky blackness and leave his not yet decaying corpse to rot, but he doesn't want to leave until he is found. Until his family knows that his time has come, and they can mourn. He will not leave until his mother wails, his father cries, and his little brother, who is too young to comprehend the gravity of his death, stares at his parents, befuddled by their despair.

The other half of his soul, the half still living, rested in a glass orb, a prison shackling him to life. The piece of him within this prison was his right eye, ripped from his head by his cloaked sibling, or E, as he called them. E had just imprisoned him and his body had perished when a purple light overtook them both, separating his halves.

Suddenly, they were next to an R.V. and five unconscious beings, including E. Ivan did not fall victim to sleep, perhaps because he could no longer sleep, there was no way to be sure, and if there was, he did not want the answer. 

The first of the beings awoke, a being with horns protruding from his head and a stiff cape with sparse holes that drapes from his shoulders to his ankles. The first expression his face took was one of panic, then an expression of small, quiet, tentative, hope, one that could be crushed easier than an ant can be crushed by a boot. The third expression his face performed was a contemplative one as he studied those around him and as his eyes fell on to Ivan. The stranger changed, his horns curved around his ears, his cape vanished, his hair curled, and his face softened.

"Hey, eye thing, if you're sentient at all, and tell anyone, in any way, what you saw, I will smash you into a pile of glass." The stranger's face wasn't nearly as threatening as his words, but Ivan's living half was completely defenseless, only capable of observation.

He could only watch as the stranger laid back down and feigned sleep. He could only watch as E awoke, and mumbled apologies Ivan only half-heard. He could only watch as E picked him up and took him in to the R.V. and placed him on top of a dresser.

"I'll come back for you as soon as I can, Ivan. I just need to hide you for a little while, at least until I know the others well enough to trust them, and I know that I will be able to trust them, because The Entity would never select people for the Journey that I couldn't trust. Can you believe it, Ivan, I hardly can, I'm just so excited that you and I get to go on a Journey to The Destination!" Even with the hood of their cape covering their face, Ivan could practically see E's excited grin. "As I was saying, I know I'll eventually be able to trust them, but another reason I'm keeping you here for a bit is because if they woke up and I was carrying an eyeball contained in a mysterious magic orb, they have a lot of questions, questions that I'm not prepared to answer, especially to a group of strangers." E closed the door and left Ivan alone with nothing but his thoughts.

That's all Ivan's halves had left to do; think. The half of Ivan that was dead could move, but would not for fear of leaving before his body was found and properly mourned. The part of Ivan that remained living was trapped, voiceless, in a bland, empty gray room.

Ivan halves yearned to be together and whole once more, but they were trapped on opposite planes by their sibling's doing and they were separated by distance due to The Entity's meddlesome Journey. Ivan wanted nothing to do with any of it. He had wanted to live a long and happy life alone in a cottage in the wilderness, but the illness that took his left eye had returned with a vengeance, and his life had become much shorter. He had accepted his fate and had been content on spending his remaining days among his family. E, however, had not been content, they had found a way to make Ivan stay in this world. Now, because Ivan was forced to stay in this plane, in an orb with no freedom of movement or the ability to vocalize his thoughts, he was on top of a dresser staring at a gray wall and his corpse, with nothing to do but think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated! :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7!!! :)

"Is it me, or does the sky look kinda pink?" One hand still gripping the wheel, Asher used his other to gesture to the view outside the window, which was in fact, tinged pink.

Of course, no one was around to hear his words, but Asher didn't mind talking to an empty room, it was a habit he'd picked up over the years, when the silence had started to get to him. Currently, it was pretty quiet, nothing but the hum of the engine and his fingers tapping on the wheel to a tune in his head.

"Yep, the sky's definitely turning pink, I should probably tell someone." Asher had been driving for about an hour, when he had noticed the sky changing hue, which could show that they're entering their first area, which warranted giving the others a heads up in case he was right.

Asher slowed down, preparing to stop the R.V., when he saw what appeared to be a small pink ball of fluff fly by the door. He sped up as fast as possible, pushing the pedal all the way to the floor, sure he had started driving a day ago , and had no idea how to handle a vehicle moving at increasingly climbing speeds, much less an R.V. of this poor a quality, but none of that mattered, because that ball of fluff made him realize something that terrified him to his core, they were in Cotton Candy Village!

"Asher, slow down!" Millicent shouted at Asher,who was mildly shocked as he hadn't noticed her come in.

"Can't, we're in Cotton Candy Village." Asher gritted his teeth as the speedometer rose to eighty.

"It can't be as bad as it's going to get if you don't slow down, the R.V. can't take the speed!"

"It's a magic ride! I'm sure it can take a few more miles!" Asher saw a few more balls of fluff flit by, then a dozen more, then three dozen more after that. "But you know what we can't take? Our blood being sucked out of our bodies by adorable deadly balls of cotton candy death!"

"We can't leave yet! We have to complete a task the Entity sets before we can leave, or we just reappear where we did when we entered the area!" Millicent grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it to the right, Asher jerking it to the left in response.

"Are you insane?"

"We can't leave yet!"

"We'll never leave if we all die!" Millicent loosen her grip, causing Asher to lose control and drive the R.V. off the road and into a bright pink tree with cotton candy for leaves.

Asher fell out of his seat (There were no seat belts) and onto the floor, Millicent hadn't been sitting, but fell all the same.

"I guess there... are no... airbags." Asher gasped weakly, mostly out of shock rather than injury. 

"Are you hurt?" Millicent shakily rose to her feet and offered a hand that Asher only accepted because he wouldn't have been able to stand on his own.

"Why would you care, it's you fault we cra-" Asher would have continued, but the dashboard had begun to glow gold as on word was etched into it, survive.

"Look, it must be the Entity's task, which means, we can leave now!" Millicent let out a sigh of relief.

Asher was about to retort, when E slammed the door from the hallway open, Sal not far behind. 

"What in the name of the Entity is going on!?" If Asher could see E's face, he would guess that they're pissed.

"No time to explain, we have to go, now!" Asher probably could've found the time to give them a quick rundown of the situation, but he just couldn't be bothered to deal with anyone right now.

"Could you at least drive a little slower?" Sal asked weakly as Asher turned the ignition.

"No can do, Fish, we have to leave as soon as possible." He was backing up when he heard it, A sound similar to chattering bats, only it sounded as if those bats were on a sugar high.

Dread consumed him as he glanced up at the tree, as the leaves began to fall from the tree, only they weren't leaves, they were cotton candy vampire bats, and the crash had woken them up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I'm probably going to be posting for today, unless I get chapter 9 done today, we'll see. :)

"Step on it, Asher!" Millicent shouted.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Asher was also shouting as he stopped backing up, switched gears and sped towards the road, racing away from the swarm of cotton candy vampire bats chasing them.

They reached the road and sped up to what speed, Sal didn't know, but it was definitely too fast for his stomach. He dashed back through the hallway door and practically ran towards the bathroom, and he would have made it, if Sophia hadn't blocked his path.

"What is occurring, Sal? The last thing I remember is playing a card game called Blackjack with Asher, the next thing that I was aware of was falling off of the couch in the recreational room. How long was I unconscious, and what did I miss while unconscious?" Sal wanted to answer her questions but he was pretty sure that if he opened his mouth he would barf on her, so he weakly pointed at the door to the front of the R.V.

"What do you mean by-" Sophia's question was cut off by the R.V. tilting heavily to the left, before righting itself, Sal was pretty sure that the bats were knocking into the R.V., this was the last straw for his stomach, and Sophia was hit by his vomit.

"Sorry..."He murmured before he stepped around her and he finally got to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Inside was where he had spent the last hour before the crash, and was where he would spend the foreseeable future as well. It was small with a small mirror above the small sink, a small shower with a toilet just the right size for vomiting next to it. He sat down next to it and waited. He probably had nothing left to come up after what happened with Sophia, but sitting there comforted him, because if there was anything left, it had somewhere to go. Before the crash, he hadn't vomited, but he had felt incredibly queasy, but had started to feel better. This could've been do to the fact that the bathroom had no windows and inside the house part of the R.V., it didn't seem like you were moving unless the driver suddenly sped up or crashed.

He didn't know how the R.V. and everyone in it survived the crash, he assumed it was something to do with the Entity and magic, nothing made sense anymore. Earlier, E had visited him in the bathroom and told him that there was a small kitchen with endlessly refilling food somewhere, he would probably check it out when it would come back up again.

Currently, the R.V. was rocking to the right and left, and there were these scratching sounds, that he assumed was the fault of the bats. The sounds and the shaking kept getting worse and worse, louder and louder, until it just stopped. He sat there for a few more minutes, grateful for the reprieve, and the rest it gave his stomach. He had almost completely calmed down when the door slammed open with a bang.

"Sal, you'll never believe it! We made it through our first area!" Millicent smiled down at him, like they hadn't almost all died and like he hadn't barfed all over Sophia. "The cotton candy vampire bats almost got us, they were tipping the R.V. and everything, but when we passed out of the area, they couldn't get to us, so we survived and successfully completed the Entity's first task!"

"That's nice..." Sal clutched his stomach and closed his eyes.

"And Sophia woke up, and she seems to be doing okay! Although she is covered in vomit, I think E altering her mind messed with her stomach."

"Nope, that's on me... I get car...sick." Sal groaned and leaned his face over the toilet bowl.

"Oh! Well then I guess Sophia's fine. Do you need anything? Some crackers? A glass of water?"

"No thank you, I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Okay then, I'll update the others on your well being!" 

"Tell Sophia I'm sorry for barfing on her." Millicent nodded and closed the door gently as she left.

It was only then that Sal realized that Millicent had said something about E changing Sophia's mind. This concerned him, but he had more pressing matters to attend to, like his stomach trying to exit his body. He groaned and lightly rubbed his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated! :)


	9. Chapter 9

Sophia would have liked to get the smell of regurgitated food off of her in the shower, but because Sal was still in the bathroom, she was unable, and had to settle for simply changing shirts and rinsing her old shirt off in the kitchen sink, and hoping that the smell did not linger. When she was looking for a clean shirt in her dresser, she had feared that the Entity had not provided her with more than one set of clothes, but had been incorrect. There were plenty of plain cotton shirts, shorts, undergarments, skirts, and even one dress. She was excited to wear the dress in the future, because she had never worn one before, though she had always wanted to. In her town, dresses were only worn when a colleague or relative was dying, it was tradition to visit them in a dress to let them know that their contributions to society during the course of their life were worthy of note by others.

She grabbed a paper towel and poured water over it to wipe off her arms. Even when she was cleaned off, she still felt disgusting, like there was a layer of filth covering her. Wait. Sophia froze in place. She could feel disgusted and icky, she could feel. How could she have forgotten? It must have been over twenty four hours since she last took her emotion suppressants. She dashed out of the kitchen to her room, closing and locking the door behind her. Sophia tore open the two drawers in her dresser, hoping that in the last five minutes the contents had changed. She threw her clothes from each drawer on the floor, digging through to the bottom in desperation, she needed those pills so she wouldn't feel.

Everyone in her tow took those pills daily because emotions were irrational and interfered with progress and they didn't make sense. Sophia found the bottom of the first drawer, nothing, she found the bottom of the second drawer, nothing. She tossed the lamp on top of the dresser on her bed and tipped her dresser over, behind the dresser was the one place she couldn't see, it stood to reason that if her pills were anywhere it was there. Her efforts yielded results as behind the dresser was a wall safe with a piece of paper with a string of numbers taped to it. Sophia mashed in the code so quickly that she had to start over a couple times.

Finally, the safe opened with a soft click. Inside were several pill bottles. Sophia grabbed one at random, the label said it was vitamin supplements, useful, but not what she needed. She grabbed another one, vitamin supplements. Reading the rest of the bottles, they were all the medicine she took on a daily and weekly basis, except one, her emotion suppressants. Sophia took all of the pills she needed to for the day, to reestablish as much of the schedule as possible. Sophia replaced her pills and closed the safe, moved the dresser to its former position, and shoved her clothes back inside said dresser. Lastly, she put her lamp back on top of the dresser. Just the act of cleaning things up relaxed her, although it terrified her that she could be relaxed or terrified.

She had not dealt with emotion since she was four, except briefly when she was twelve and she had forgotten her pill, and it had all worked out in the end, but there was a reason everyone from her town took emotion suppressants. Emotions were scary and unpredictable and it was always easier for everyone if no one ever felt anything. But she didn't have that option anymore because the Entity had taken it away. Sophia had no idea what to do, or how to feel, literally, she had no idea how to handle her emotion, no one from her town did, it had been that way for a thousand years.

Sophia sat on her bed and curled into a tight ball, grasping her pillow in a hug. She heard a whimper and realized the sound came from her mouth and tears were slowly making their way down her face as her nose congested.

There was a knock on the door. "Hey Robot-lady, we found this weird gas station in the middle of nowhere and everyone's gonna go check it out, you wanna join us?" Asher's voice was muffled by the door.

Sophia uncurled her body, put down the pillow, walked over to the door to unlock it, and cracked it open. "That sounds like an intriguing puzzle."

"Yeah, it's a good thing we found the gas station when we did, we're about to run out of gas." Asher gave her a smile full of teeth.

Sophia sighed and opened the door fully. "I suppose that there is no harm in coming along."


	10. Chapter 10

Herman wiped down the counter for the fifth time that day, out of habit and sheer boredom. No one had come to the gas station for a few days. Usually he got a few customers every day, but the last three days, nothing. He hadn't gone this long without a customer in three hundred years. He knew because he kept track of every customer to walk through those doors every item he traded for a secret or one of their items, He was under no obligation to do so, but he had nothing else to keep him entertained, and he enjoyed looking through his old logs and revisiting old memories and long dead friends.

Herman was about to die again of boredom, when an all too familiar chime let out a brief chirp. "Welcome to Herman's gas and stuff shack! How can I help you?"

The five beings that entered stopped in their tracks and all looked varying levels of shocked. Herman was used to this, it happened every time a new group came through, so about once a year. In the beginning it must not have been like this, if his journals were anything to go by, he even used to have eyeballs in his eye sockets.

"Are you just a skeleton?" The kid who spoke had a bandage on his left arm.

"Sal, that's rude!" A girl with flowers sprouting from her hair berated.

"I don't mind, I've gotten that question a lot over the past thousand years, so I'm used to it." Herman spoke with a lighthearted chuckle that made his bones rattle. "I am in fact a skeleton, and I run this gas station, so how can I help you?"

"Well, Bones, we need gas for our R.V. and I wouldn't mind getting a bag of chips, because we only have healthy food on our vehicle." A familiar boy with rams horns drummed his fingers on the counter.

"Okay, that'll be two secrets or items of significance please." Herman couldn't smile, so he hoped his tone conveyed it.

"What do you mean by this?" A silver girl inquired.

"My shop works a little bit different than most, see since every area uses its own currency I decided a long time ago that instead of trying to figure out the exchange rate for each one, I would trade in something more universal. Each item in my shop and each refuel of gas costs one secret or one item of personal value." Herman reached under his desk and pulled out his latest log of secrets. 

"we're just supposed to tell you a secret in front of everyone else or give away something dear to us? Now that just doesn't sound fair Bones." Ram horns sounded slightly panicked as he said this.

"Never said it had to be your secret or personal item." If Herman could wink, he would have with a smirk.

"Oh. Okay, I have a bunch of secrets I can tell you."

"Asher, before you tell him anything I have a few questions." The cloak inquired with an accusatory tone. 

"Go ahead and ask, I have nothing to hide."

"What do you do with our secrets?"

"I keep them to myself."

"How are you still alive?"

"I'm not."

"Well, if you're not alive, how are you talking to us and controlling a body?"

"How should I know?" Throughout all of the cloak's questioning, Herman kept a completely cheerful inflection.

"Final question: How did you end up running a gas station in the middle of nowhere?" 

"It's been so long, I've forgotten." It was the truth, Herman couldn't remember a time before the gas station and he only has vague impressions of having a proper body with skin, muscles, hair, and the ability to properly emote. "Now that I've answered your questions, if you would like gas or something from my shop, it'll cost you a secret or a personal item. And don't try to lie, the one ability I have besides staying on this plane of existence, is being able tell when someone is lying."

"Well, we need chips and gas, so I'll tell you two secrets." The boy that the cloak called Asher moved in front of Herman and across the counter.

"Okay, Asher was it?" Herman pulled out a pen from his shirt pocket. "In order for me to know if you're being honest I'm going to have to use my ability on you, which means you won't be able to lie until to effects wear off, which is anywhere from ten minutes to a week, are you okay with that?"

"um..."Asher glanced back at his companions, bandage guy and flower girl nodded back in support, although bandage guy looked more grim than supportive. "I guess?"

"Alright-y then." Herman grabbed Asher's arm and began his chant, the words flowing out of where his lips used to be. He didn't know what he was saying, but the words knew him well. Herman had been told that while he was chanting, his skull lit up like a lantern, and apparently the light was green, of course to him nothing changed, but multiple people over the centuries had assured him this was true. Once the incarnation was complete, he released Asher's arm, which now had red marks where Herman's hand had been, and he uncapped his pen and opened his log. "So, what are your two secrets you'd like to share?"

"Uh..." Asher looked frazzled for a moment then, to the shock of his companions, snapped back to the present, recovering surprisingly quickly. "First, when I was eleven, I met this lady who accidentally blinded her sister and never got over the guilt. And I knew this guy when I was... I think thirteen? Anyway, he and his friend got lost in the woods behind his house and the friend never found his way out."

The silver lady, bandage guy, and flower girl all looked varying stages of aghast, and Herman supposed that if he could see the cloak's face, they would look the same. 

"Those are great secrets, but I need names to go with them." 

"The lady and her sister were Margo and Stefanie Henderson, the guy was Robert Gibbons-Williams and his friend was Mark Wallis."

Herman excitedly jotted down the new secrets, he usually didn't get so interesting ones, most of the time, people tell him about an old crush or a small misdeed, and there're so boring! But, Herman is a skeleton of his word and always honors the deal, and its times like these where it's worth every 'I had a crush on Stacy' and 'I tripped Jimmy when I was five'.

"Thank you for these fascinating new pieces of knowledge, pick any bag of chips you want, and I'll enter my code for the gas." 

Asher was grabbing plain chips when Millicent lightly smacked his hand. "You go through all that trouble and you choose plain?"

"I didn't want to be to crazy with my choice 'cause I've never had chips before." Asher slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Like I said, it takes ten minutes to a week to wear off."

"How do you know what chips are if you've never had them? Were your parents crazy about health?" Bandage guy looked honestly bewildered.

"No, Sal my parents weren't crazy about health, I haven't had chips before beca-" Asher cut himself off by shoving his fist inside his mouth, muffling the remaining half of the response.

"Your eyes turned green." The silver lady spoke for the first time in a while.

Asher's eyes widened immensely and he let out a muffled "What?!" as he ran to the small freezers in the back.

"Oops, sorry 'bout that, it's another side effect of my truth spell I forgot to mention." Herman called over to the tips of horns and curly hair he could see of Asher over the aisles. "It's actually a reliable way of telling when you can lie again, unless you naturally have green eyes, but-" 

The chime of the doors sounded.


	11. Chapter 11

He had been skating for hours, the sun had mercilessly beat down upon him, sweat dripping into his eyes, his arm too tired to wipe it away, that had been his personal hell. He only knew for sure that a day had passed because night had fallen briefly before he had collapsed in an exhausted heap on the side of the road until morning had come, and he had continued. He had thought all had been lost then he had seen it! Herman's gas and stuff shack! He wouldn't die today! He skated up the road as fast as he could. 

Next to gas pump was a beaten up old R.V. Did that mean there were people here? He was really hoping that was the case because while Herman was great, he needed to see a face that was actually alive, because he hadn't seen one in weeks. Ever since he and his friends got stuck, there, he had been completely isolated. He finally reached the door and heard the familiar chime of the automatic door sliding open, compared to the screams, it was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard.

"Herman, I need a bottle of water before I die of heat stroke, cast the spell on me." He skated to the counter as Herman brought over a folding chair from the back, letting him collapse into it before he clutched his arm and began chanting, his skull shining with a bright green light.

"What secret you got this time?" Herman already had his log open and ready.

"My favorite color is pink because Peggy loves it, I didn't have a favorite color before her." He mumbled these words with his eyes closed, too tired to keep them open.

"Well that's three secrets in my book, so I'll get you your water and any two things."

He must have made a sound of confusion, because Herman elaborated.

"Your favorite color, why, and your past favorite colors."

"That's... great." He chugged the water that Herman handed him. "Hey Herman, can I stay here for the night? I don't exactly have a place to stay."

"Sure, I've been kinda lonely the last few days, so I won't count it as one of your credits. In fact, anytime you need a roof over your head, you're welcome to stay here, Carter."

"Thanks, means a lot."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me so long to post this chapter because the last few paragraphs got deleted, and I lost the hard copy I had, but I like the way it ends better than the original ending. Hopefully I'll get chapter 13 done by the end of the week, but no promises because I have to do some rewriting and I'm going to be busy this week. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

"Carter?" Sal's eyes practically jumped out of his head.

"Sal?" The one armed blond man, Carter apparently, opened his now green eyes and shot into an upright sitting position. "What are you... don't tell me you got taken on the Journey?"

"Yeah, I guess? This all started when I woke up like two hours ago so..." Sal trailed off, eyes glancing at Carter's missing appendage. "Wait!? What happened to your arm?"

"It's been a very long year, Sal."

"What's going on Sal, who is this?" Millicent was curious, if Sal was on good terms with Carter, then maybe he could tell them all he knew.

"I guess I should introduce you, this is Carter, my best friend from as you guys call it, The Village." Sal gestured to Carter, then to Millicent and the others one at a time. "Carter, this is my group for the Journey, Millicent, Sophia, E, and... where did Asher go? I thought he was near the freezer, but I don't see him anymore."

Millicent glanced back to the freezers, Sal was right, Asher wasn't there. She walked through the few aisles looking for him, but he had pretty much vanished.

"Where could he have gone in the last minute?" Sophia's words almost sounded worried.

"I mean, there's a bathroom, but I didn't see him go in." Herman pointed at the door along the same wall as the freezers.

"Asher, you in there?" Millicent knocked on the door, with no response.

"Found him." E was standing in front of the entrance, their gloved hand open like it was grabbing onto something. "He was trying to ditch us by sneaking off while invisible, but lucky for us, I can see his magic aura, so I grabbed his arm so he couldn't leave us."

"Asher, is it true that you are there and is E's statement also true? Were you going to leave without us?" Something in Sophia's voice seemed to break just a little.

"Yeah I'm here, but I wasn't going to leave you guys, I was just going to pump gas!"

"But you need Herman's code to pump gas." Millicent was confused, this wasn't adding up.

All Millicent heard in response was muffled speaking, that she assumed was Asher preventing the truth spell from making him talk.

"Why did you turn invisible?" Sophia's voice had returned to its usual monotone.

"When Carter showed up, it caught me off guard, turning invisible was mostly an accident."

"Why didn't you tell us you turned invisible or that you could, why try to avoid Carter?" All Millicent got in response was more muffled speaking.

Speaking of Carter, he was turning increasingly more pale and distraught. Millicent walked over to him and put the back of her hand on his forehead.

"Are you okay? Do you feel light or feverish? What'd you have to eat today? Follow my finger with your eyes." Millicent moved her free hand in front of him. "Do you have any preexisting conditions or allergies? How did you lose your arm? Is the wound red or swollen? If it is, that may be a sign of infection"

"I'm fine, it's just been a long day." 

"Leave Carter alone, Millicent, if he says he's fine, then he is." Sal's annoyed tone caught her off guard, in Flowerhall, her home, no one was ever annoyed with concern over health.

"You're sure you're fine? You look pretty pale, I'd recommend lots of fluids, protein rich foods and a cold washcloth for your forehead. This is because you exhibit signs of heat stroke and an iron deficiency."

"Like I said, I'm fine, I just need to sleep it off, then I'll be back to as normal as I can get, and then I go back out there and skate until I get back to Edgewick."

"Back? You got out of Edgewick and you want to go back to that nightmare-fuel, demonic, uncaring hellscape?" Asher had turned visible again and he looked utterly baffled.

"It's not like I want to go there, it's that I need to get to someone who's trapped there." Carter's voice turned determined and stubborn.

"Who could possibly be worth entering and dying in the Prison?" Asher's voice began to mirror Carter's

"Peggy is who! She's worth everything to me!" Carter was almost shouting.

"Peggy's in danger?" Sal's face and his voice were distraught.

"She's being held in the Prison, one of the most dangerous places I've ever seen and... " Carter's voice wavered and his eyes began to water. "...It's all my fault she's stuck there! If I hadn't left the area, I could have saved her and she'd be here right now with me! That place got everyone else, it can't take her too!"

Carter began to full on sob, big wet tears and a shattered, broken face. He attempted to dry his eyes with his remaining hand, but the tears kept flowing, so he left his hand over his eyes.

At first no one moved, then Sal approached Carter, Millicent moving away to allow him close. Sal reached the left side of Carter’s chair, crouched down to match his eye level, and carefully removed his hand from his eyes. “Carter, I… care about you and Peggy, you guys are my closest friends and because I care about you, I can’t let you do this alone. I know Peggy wouldn’t want you to die trying to save her, and I know you can’t leave her in the hands of whatever danger is in Edgewick or the Prison, or whatever it’s called. You can join me and my group on the Journey, so that when we go to Edgewick, we can save Peggy.” Sal set his jaw and looked each of them in the eye, as if daring them to say no.

“Don’t look at me, I’m not going to say the amputee has to skate a desert alone, I’m not a monster!” Asher held his hands up in surrender, a little panicked, as if anyone would accuse him of otherwise.

“I still want to keep an eye on your health, so it’s fine with me.” Millicent was sure Carter would be fine, but it couldn’t hurt to have someone from Flowerhall watch over him.  
“I have no reason, nor desire to object to Carter residing with our group.” Sophia was her usual matter of fact self. Millicent briefly felt relieved that Sophia appeared to be okay for the long term.

“He can stay as long as he doesn’t impede us on the Journey.” E spoke as if they were all children, and E was letting them keep a stray cat they had taken in from the rain.

Sal spared E a quick glare, before turning back to Carter, a hand resting on his shoulder. “See, you can stay, and before you know it, Peggy will be with us too. It’ll be just like old times.” Carter embraced Sal in a one armed hug, his face buried in Sal’s shoulder. Sal returned the embrace, holding him as Carter spoke muffled thank you’s.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Feedback are greatly appreciated. :)


End file.
